The Cowboy’s Christmas Baby (20 page)

Natalie looked down and that was one big raccoon. He sat down at her feet and looked
up at her as if he expected her to give him a half-eaten burger or some stale chips.

“You open the door, Diane, and I’ll shoo him on out of here,” Lucas said.

She grabbed a package of cheese crackers and slung open the door. “Come on, Coonie,
you old renegade. Come get the crackers.”

Lucas stomped his feet and slapped his hat against his leg. “Shoo, get on out of here.”

An idea popped into Natalie’s head. She squatted down so that the coon could see Joshua.
It peered into the baby’s smiling face and then ambled out of the store.

“You are the animal whisperer. I swear I’ve never had trouble with animals before
this.” He chuckled.

“Well, I’m just glad that y’all convinced him to leave. I’d get in big trouble if
my boss knew I was feeding him. Now let me see that baby.”

Natalie repositioned Joshua and removed his cap.

Diane nodded emphatically. “Yep, he’s got the Allen dark hair and eyes. You pulled
a real sneaky on us, Lucas. Were you in the service over there in Kuwait too?” She
looked at Natalie.

“No, ma’am.”

“Well, you’ll have to tell me the whole story sometime. What can I do for you two
today? Y’all out doin’ some shoppin’. Want to see what the fellows have been looking
at when they’ve been in the last few times?” Her eyes went back to Lucas.

Lucas shook his head. “I want you to wrap three Carhartt coats. You know their sizes.”

“The best-lined ones?” she asked.

“That’s right.”

Natalie cradled Joshua more comfortably and said, “I’d like to see what they’ve looked
at.”

“While you are doing that, I’m going to try on a new pair of work boots,” Lucas said.

Natalie loved Western-wear stores. She liked the way they smelled, the rows and rows
of cowboy boots, hats, and racks of shirts, belts, and jeans. Diane came from around
the counter and pointed at a shelf with folded flannel shirts.

She picked out several things for the guys and asked Diane if she could please wrap
them.

“And I want that dress…” She pointed to a mannequin. She wanted the boots. Hell, she
needed the boots. “And the boots too. It’s fate that they and the dress are my size,
so I should have them.”

“Oh, I agree,” Diane said. “I’ve got a fancy cape in the back that goes with that
dress. It’s the softest suede you’ll ever throw around your shoulders and the buttons
are covered in that same lace. Lady had it on layaway, but she changed her mind and
I just haven’t gotten it back out on the rack yet.”

She brought it out and Natalie fell in love with it.

“Can you just put all of that in a separate bag than the presents?” she asked.

Diane winked. “You are planning on surprising Lucas, are you?”

“Yes, I am. We’re going to the Angus Christmas party.”

“Well, darlin’, you’d better take a big stick with you to beat off all the other ranchers
who will try to beat his time. Jewelry?”

“No, I’ve got something that will be perfect, but I do like that pearl comb right
there for my hair.”

“You go on and look at them boots Lucas is trying on, and I’ll get all this wrapped
up real pretty for y’all,” Diane said.

Natalie found him in the back corner sitting on a wide wooden bench. He pointed at
his feet. One boot was brown and one was black. She sat down beside him and jumped
when she saw a movement to her side. The coon had snuck back in with another bunch
of teenage customers.

It reared up on his haunches and looked at all three of them then ambled to the back
door. Diane was right behind it with crackers in hand. “I’ve created a mess that’s
going to get me fired.”

The coon followed her out the back door that time. She locked it and returned to her
customers.

Lucas removed the boots. “I still got a month left in my old ones, so I’ll come back
and get them after Christmas. Don’t want to have to break in new boots in this kind
of weather. Why do you think we have this problem with animals anyway?”

“Henry says that they’re coming around to see you. Mama says that I’ve always drug
in strays. Maybe it’s a combination of the two of us,” she said.

“Well, it’s plumb crazy. What do you want for Christmas, Natalie?”

“I want—” She blushed. She couldn’t tell him that she wanted to be a permanent part
of Cedar Hill Ranch and that she wanted him to accept Joshua as a real son. Lord,
that would be asking for more than Santa Claus could stuff in his sleigh.

“What?” he pressured. “For real, what do you want?”

“I’ll think about it and let you know later. What do you want?”

“You,” he said without taking his eyes off her. “I came home in one piece and you
were waiting for me.”

***

The moon hung in a crystal-clear sky at the top of the windshield on their way home
that evening. Stars glimmered around it like subjects before their king. Natalie remembered
what Lucas had said about Drew being king in their barracks. She intended to paint
that picture to Joshua when she told him all about his father.

“I figured he’d be sound asleep the way we’ve dragged him from one store to the other.”
Lucas nodded toward the backseat. “But he’s talking to his fist and chewing on it
like it’s chocolate.”

“It’s time for his bath and night bottle,” she said.

“You’ve got him on a pretty good schedule.”

“I didn’t do it. He did. From the day he was born he ate every four hours and he’s
been a good baby. No colic or fussing other than when he’s hungry,” she said. “They’re
not all like that, though. I’ve got some friends who have walked the floor with their
kids.”

“Melody’s first one about split their marriage. I don’t think either she or her husband
slept the first year. They got so cranky that we were all afraid they’d divorce over
that baby. I wondered if they could even get a divorce on grounds of lack of sleep
because the baby is so fussy. But after he was a year old, he did a complete turnaround
and he’s been a good kid ever since.”

Natalie nodded slightly and looked out the side window. Since they were on the subject
of babies, maybe it would be a good time to ask about the test results. She opened
her mouth but words would not come out.

They drove through Savoy and he made a right-hand turn and then a left onto a dirt
road. A quarter of a mile later he turned right again and drove down the lane to the
house. The lights strung around the porch and house were on and the Christmas tree
filled the window.

“I’ll carry Joshua and then come back for the bags that you can’t take,” Lucas offered.

Sometimes Fate did give her a decent hand. She’d worried about getting the baby and
that big bag with her dress, cape, and boots into the house at the same time. She
really, really wanted to surprise Lucas when she got all dolled up for the party.

The ground was as slippery as greased piglets, but she managed to keep her balance
from truck to porch and then into the warm house. She rushed to her room, tossed the
bag on the bed, and then hurried back out to the living room to take Joshua from Lucas.

***

He handed the baby off to her and went right back out to bring in the rest of the
packages they’d bought. He slipped on the top step but with a lot of fancy footwork
kept from falling on the presents. If he broke the ornament that said
Baby’s First Christmas
Natalie would never forgive him. She’d searched through four stores before she found
just the right one. It was motion activated and played “Little Drummer Boy” as it
revolved.

“We’ve got to have this,” she’d declared.

“Why that particular one?” he’d asked.

“Henry reads that to Joshua almost every day. He’ll get a big kick out of it.”

Lucas had gotten such a big kick out of shopping with her and the baby that for a
whole evening he’d forgotten that they weren’t a family. It had been so easy to fall
in love with Natalie after that first evening that he couldn’t even remember when
it happened.

“Whoa!” he said.

She opened the door and stood to one side. “Did you trip? I thought I heard a thump.
I slipped and almost fell on that top step. We probably need to salt it or do some
serious scraping tomorrow morning. Henry could break a hip on it.”

“No, I just remembered that Gramps always uses the back door. I’ll take care of the
steps tomorrow in case anyone does come to the house. I got all the presents in that
load. We were only gone three hours. How did we buy so much?”

“We worked hard,” she said. “If you’ll take the wrapped ones out and put them under
the tree, I’ll get this boy bathed and then fed so he can go to bed for the night.”

“Yes, ma’am. Your wish is my command,” he said.

“Oh, yeah. Well, do you want to do diaper duty?”

“No, ma’am!” he said quickly.

“Then my wish is not your command. We’ll be back in a few minutes.” She disappeared
down the hallway.

He heard water running in the bathroom as he kicked off his boots and stretched out
in his recliner. He leaned back, shut his eyes, and visualized him and Natalie taking
a long, hot shower together: running his soapy hands all over her body, feeling her
pressed against him, her wet lips on his as the water sprayed down over their naked
bodies. He was suddenly in semi-arousal, so he pulled his shirt out of his jeans and
let it hang on the outside.

Women didn’t have to worry about the whole world seeing things when they were aroused.
They might get flushed or even kind of glazed eyes, but they didn’t have a bulge in
their jeans.

“Love?” He flipped the switch to make the train run around the tracks. Lately he felt
just like that little train—running in circles and going nowhere. He was in love with
Natalie and he really did like Joshua. But did he like him enough to make him equal
to any children they might have of their very own?

He looked at the packages in his hands and pictured his family on Christmas morning
when they ripped them open.

“Hazel!” he said. “I’ve got to find something extra special for Hazel this year so
she’ll stay on the ranch and not go back to Memphis.”

He placed the packages just right up under the tree and sat back on the floor and
looked at them. “Love? For real?” he whispered.

Joshua was wrapped in one of those baby towels that had a hood when she brought him
back to the living room. She laid him on the sofa and dried him while he fretted and
gnawed at his fist.

“No smiles for Momma tonight?” she asked.

“I wouldn’t smile either if I was brought in from the cold and given a bath when all
I wanted was my night snack,” Lucas said. “Want me to make the bottle while you dress
him?”

“Yes, and thank you. The water and powder are in the kitchen above the…”

He held up a palm. “I know where you keep them and how to make a bottle. Hold on,
Josh, we’ll get your chocolate cake and ice cream in a minute. Do you heat it in the
microwave or in a pan?”

“Neither. Room temp is fine.”

***

She rubbed lotion all over the baby and bent down to kiss him on the cheek. “So tell
me, what do you want people to call you? Is Josh more of a cowboy name than Joshua?”

He smiled at her and cooed.

She kissed the bottom of his feet before putting his warm footed pajamas on him. “You
are a traitor. Living in this testosterone-filled man cave has changed you.”

“And here it is right on time.” Lucas handed her a bottle. “It’s chocolate cake and
ice cream this time. Tomorrow morning it will be bacon and eggs, Josh.”

The baby flashed his biggest smile yet at Lucas. Little rascal was a traitor. She
bet if he had a father that he’d say Daddy long before he ever said Mommy.

“Want me to feed him while you wrap those packages?” Lucas asked. “I’m all thumbs
when it comes to wrapping. I only shop in stores that wrap the presents for me,” he
said.

Joshua snuggled against Lucas’s chest and latched onto the bottle. Lucas eased down
into a recliner and held baby and bottle both in one arm while he flipped the lever
on the side. “Ah, boy, this is the life, isn’t it? A recliner and food. It don’t get
no better than this. That shoppin’ business will flat take it out of a couple of hardworking
cowboys. How them women folks can shop a whole day is pure magic.”

Natalie glanced at them as she wrapped the presents for Grady, Jack, and Henry and
slipped them under the tree. All the guys now had presents under the tree, but there
was nothing for Lucas. She made up her mind right then that she was going to buy the
boots for him and a vibrating neck roll pillow for Josh to give him.

Good Lord! She’d just shortened Joshua’s name in her thoughts. Her brothers would
roar with laughter if they knew she was even thinking the word Josh after the fit
she’d thrown at the hospital when he was born.

Suddenly Christmas music filled the room and she looked up so fast that she tore the
paper. “Well, shit!”

Lucas laughed. “You got to quit saying words like that when Josh gets old enough to
talk. Paper cut?”

“No, that music scared the bejesus out of me. And Hazel cusses like a sailor and she
raised you all right,” she said.

“You don’t like Christmas music?” he asked.

“Love it. It’s my favorite holiday of the year, but I was way off in la-la land thinking
about something else when it came on. I can’t believe the baby is already asleep.”

Lucas held out his arms. “I’m good with kids. Want me to put him in his little crib
thing in your room?”

“That would be great, and pick up the baby monitor from the nightstand on your way
back out here,” she said.

CMT was playing old Christmas videos when she looked around the Christmas tree at
the television. Dolly Parton was singing “Hard Candy Christmas” and every line spoke
to Natalie. Most lines in the song started with the word “maybe.” Natalie could relate
to that so well that evening. After Hazel came back maybe she’d drive so far that
everyone would forget all about her and Joshua. Or maybe if she’d fooled around and
gotten pregnant again, she’d really run far, far away and never look back. Because
there was no maybe to it; she was not telling her mother that she was having another
baby without a father around to help raise him or her.